Community College

 

Enrollment

Connecting Waters Charter School encourages capable high school students to enroll in community college courses when it is deemed appropriate by the parent and the Educational Specialist. In addition, University of California campuses may accept and enroll students from non-accredited high schools if they have a proven academic record from their local community college. Students desiring entrance to a UC should be sure to read about the university requirements found in the CWCS guidance section. All community colleges have posted the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) on their websites to aid students in selecting the appropriate, transferable courses. Refer to www.assist.org to find classes that will transfer to the UC system & identified as such. Note UC course number, as it will be needed later.

Please be aware that some History courses taken at Community College do not align well with the CA State Standards required for 10th grade World History and 11th grade US History.  When working with your students:  World History – must be Modern World History, typically titled “World History since the 1600’s”  US History – typically titled “US History since Reconstruction”

The parent is responsible for enrolling the student by contacting the college enrollment office. The parent must identify their student as being currently enrolled in a public high school. Each community college is able to set its own standards for admittance, such as a minimum age, demonstrated ability, or professor approval. Colleges may require placement testing and/or orientation sessions. They may also require the ES to sign letters of recommendation, and require official transcripts before admitting the high school student. It is important for parents to start this process early to meet application and enrollment deadlines. ESs should become familiar with their local community college’s procedures and restrictions to better advise parents. All CWCS students must have the Community College’s enrollment form for high school students (ie, MJC’s Advanced Admission Application or Delta’s College Early Start form- each college has its own name for the form) signed by the CWCS Executive Director regardless of whether the courses will be included on their high school transcript. If your student is taking a community college course with either the tuition and/or the books paid for with CWCS Instructional funds, the course must be documented on the high school transcript.

Attendance Credit

The ES must know the number of college units a CWCS student is earning at a community college.

If a CWCS student is enrolled in 20* units or more in the charter school, (not counting any college credits), the charter school can claim full attendance.

-If a student wants to take community college classes, but is not attempting to earn a minimum of 20 units (not counting any college credits) in the charter school, the student can not enroll in the college class.
*Students are required to enroll in at least 25 credits a semester with CWCS, however, if they are taking a college class and plan to receive at least 5 credits (on their CW transcript) from that college course, they may enroll in only 20 units of CW classes.

 

Writing the Learning Record

It is not mandatory that classes taken by the student at the community college be documented on the learning record if they are taking at least 20 units not counting their college classes. The parent should be advised to consult with the university admissions office where the student intends to enroll after graduation to determine whether to place the college classes on the high school transcript. Some universities may not accept for transfer any community college units that have also been used for high school graduation credit. The ES still must know how many units the student is earning at college since the Charter School is responsible for tracking attendance credit and reporting accurate attendance information. No grades or units may be assigned for any course not listed on the learning record.  

Writing learning records for a student attending college classes is not any different than any other learning record and follows the same general guidelines for writing any other high school learning record:

  • Learning records will include descriptions of the major objectives covered and activities used within each assignment period.
  • The documentation of learning should include content of what is learned but not where it is learned.
  • Specific textbook titles or chapter numbers may be mentioned but are not mandatory.
  • The amount of time that learning took place or the dates that learning took place for any activity do not need to be stated.
  • Any references to religious content must be in the context of the study of world religion.
  • A learning record can include nontraditional learning as well as traditional.
  • The learning record can include teacher comments.
  • A properly written learning record should provide a record of student progress which may be used to support the life goals of that student.
  • The information presented on the learning record should be organized and professionally presented.

Examples

Computer Programming 1B: Julio listened to lectures, took notes, and completed lab assignments on the following topics: I/O Streams as an Introduction to Objects and Classes- streams and basic file I/O, tools for stream I/O, character I/O, inheritance among stream classes; Defining Classes and Abstract Data Types- structures, classes, abstract data types, classes to produce ADTs, alternative implementation of a class. He was pleased to get 86% on his midterm.

Art 1B: Madeline listened to lectures, read her text, viewed other students' samples, and created her own samples modeling the style of the following artists: Tiffany, Rouault, Kollwitz and Barlach. She made a mosaic tree out of tiles, created a stained 'glass' flower out of tissue paper, drew a sketch of a face using boxes for dimensions, and made an action scene with balloon people.

Physics: Brian listened to lectures, took notes, read the text, answered written comprehension and vocabulary questions, performed labs, and took chapter tests on the following topics: Sound- the nature of sound waves, loudness, pitch, speed of sound, boundary effects; Music- consonance, overtones, musical instruments. Labs conducted were on 'the property of waves' and 'vibrating strings'.

 

Assigning Credits

CWCS allows students to receive credit for a high school course and to keep the college units. The college evaluates and assigns the college units. The ES documents and evaluates the learning that takes place in the college course and then assigns appropriate high school credit under a similar high school class name. The name of the high school class may or may not be the same name as the college class. The number of high school units earned depends on the content of the class and what learning took place. There is no specific formula. The ES must use their professional judgment as for any high school course and consult their ES advisor for help. (Be sure to include the name of the college and the name of the course/course number taken). 

Examples of classes:

  • PE - Student meets with class three times a week performing specific exercises. HS Credit evaluation using time as the guideline: 12 - 15 hours = 1 unit.
  • Spanish — Student’s class meets three times weekly for Spanish. ES compares the content of what the student has learned in the college Spanish class with what the student would learn in a regular high school Spanish class. In this case, the high school student covers in one semester the equivalent of a yearlong Spanish class. HS Credit evaluation: body of work comparison = 10 units

If you are unsure what the course entails, get a copy of the course syllabus to help judge the content as you evaluate the student's work. The ES Advisor can also help the ES through the process of evaluating the high school unit value of a college course. Students may not receive more than 10 units per course name, 5 units for the "A" semester and 5 units for semester "B".

If your student is taking a community college course with either the tuition and/or the books paid for with CWCS Instructional funds, the course must be documented on the high school transcript. Be sure to label the “outside source” on the report card with the name of the community college attended. The ES will assign a course title and units (if the course is UC/CSU transferable, the course title should have the “a-g” designation if available). In this case, the grade issued by the ES should match the grade earned at the Community College. Upon completion of the course, the student will request an official transcript from the Community College to be sent directly to Student Records at IEM. Student Records and the Guidance Department will coordinate to accurately document the course in the “comments box”. The ES should be aware that the number of units assigned to the course by the college may translate into a higher number of high school credits. The ES should consult with their advisor to determine what the number of credits may be, and keep in mind the Maximum number of carnegie units allowed.
Please note: It is necessary to put the Community College course number on the report card next to the name of the college. UC/CSU requires that we reference the course title/number on the transcript, and the only way to do this is to list the course on the report card. You should also check with the guidance department for assistance in giving the proper title for the course.It is not necessary to include the course number in the learning record. (In FRED, after selecting the name of the college from the dropdown, double click in the field to get a blinking cursor and type in the course number after the college name).

Concurrent Enrollment Credit Options: Students are normally allowed to take up to 6 units, or 2 classes, per the Executive Director's approval. Students may request to take more than 2 courses concurrently at CC only if they meet all of the below requirements:

-a proven academic record justifying that they can handle the course load

-Prof/Adv CSTs and GPA over 3.0

-The ES has consulted with their ES advisor on whether option one or two will be used

-The ES has emailed the Executive Director and cc'd their advisor with the option chosen and the classes and units the student will be taking for the semester.

The below options can be used to keep the student from achieving too many high school credits in one semester.

#1- Allow all CC courses to be counted on the high school transcript, but allow “variable” credit for the CC course as determined by the ES and ES Advisor.  Meaning, an ES could count a 3 unit CC course as 5 HS credits/units rather than a full 10 credits/units.
#2 Allow students to decide whether or not they want all courses on their HS transcript.  
a) Pro – students can keep the CC transcript separate which allows them to take more courses.  Example, a student takes three 3 unit courses US History, Creative Writing, and Child Development at CC but only uses US History and Creative Writing on the HS transcript.  Each 3 unit course would translate to 10 high school credits/units.  This allows a student who is very motivated to take a rigorous schedule that compares to other high achieving high school students who have Honors and Advanced Placement opportunities at their school.  Thus, allowing the student to be competitive against the applicant pool when applying to highly selective universities such as MIT, Stanford, Yale, UCLA, UCB, etc…
b)  Con – students cannot use IF to purchase materials for courses not document on the learning record, ie, the books for Child Development would not be paid for with IF because the course is not being documented on the LR

 

Summer School Courses
Summer School courses taken at a community college can be put on the student’s High School Transcript. The student should request that an official college transcript be sent to the IEM office, and the courses will be added. If added in this manner, the student and the parent should be advised that this will show that the course was used to meet high school graduation requirements, and may not count in the credits a student accrues at the college level towards college graduation requirements. Parents should be advised to consult with the university admissions office where the student intends to enroll after graduation to determine whether to place the college classed on the high school transcript.
Students that have their courses added in the above manner for summer school, do NOT have the information recorded in their learning record nor does the ES add a course title and credits to the student’s report card.

*Students enrolled in summer school at the charter school cannot be concurrently enrolled in a community college.

 

College Tuition

Connecting Waters Charter School cannot pay for community college courses although many community colleges will waive the tuition for high school students. Check with the college you are interested in attending for their requirements.

*The only exception to this is Delta College which is a vendor and a PO can be made for per unit tuition fee to be paid with instructional funds; student fees, other than tuition, must be paid for by the parent.. Modesto Junior College waives the per unit tuition/enrollment fee, but the student fees, other than tuition, must be paid for by the parent. 

 

College Books

College bookstores are treated the same as any other vendor. Approach your local community college bookstore and ask if they will become a vendor, then follow the established new vendor request procedure.

If the college bookstore is not a vendor, the book will have to be ordered directly from the publisher. Ask parents to obtain the book list as soon after enrolling as possible. Parents should get the complete book name, ISBN, price, and publisher’s name. Texts ordered directly from the publisher will usually arrive within 4-6 weeks. Books may also be ordered by the ISBN from Border Books, although this option may take extra time. Often the college library has books that may be used until arrival of those ordered from our vendors. Parents may also choose to spend their personal funds to purchase the books, but no reimbursement will be given.